Press release World Baseball Softball Confederation
SAKAI, Japan — 19 November 2019 — On the eve of the third WBSC Congress, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today announced that the hosting rights of the U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup 2020 have been awarded to Peru. This marks the first time a Softball World Cup will be held in Latin America since 2012, when the U-19 Men’s Softball World Cup was held in Argentina.
The first-ever edition of the U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup will be held in Lima from 21-30 August, and features the world’s best players from 16 countries in the U-18 category.
The tournament will be held at Villa María del Triunfo Sports Complex in the Peruvian capital, venue of this year’s Pan American Games Lima 2019 softball competition.
“WBSC is very happy with the awarding of the U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup to Peru,” said WBSC Softball Chairman, Tommy Velazquez. “After the amazing softball success at the Pan American Games Lima 2019, we’re very proud to continue building the legacy of this event, awarding Peru the hosting rights of one of the most important international softball events in the world.”
This will be the first ever U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup, the new age bracket created to replace the old U-19 Women’s Softball World Championship.
The WBSC Softball Division Board awarded today the wild card to the Philippines, that finished in fourth place in the U-17 Women’s Softball Asia Cup. A total of 12 teams have secured participation in the new World Cup so far:
- Africa (2): To be determined
- Americas (5): No. 1 USA (three-time U-19 world champion), No. 3 Canada, No. 4 Puerto Rico, No. 5 Mexico, No. 20 Peru
- Asia (3): No. 2 Japan, No. 6 Chinese Taipei, No. 8 China
- Europe (3): No. 9 Italy, No. 10 Netherlands, No. 15 Czech Republic
- Oceania (2): To be determined
- Wild Card (1): No. 13 Philippines
The U-18 Women’s Softball Regional Qualification Event will be held in Canberra, Australia, from 15-16 February 2020.
The last U-19 Women’s Softball World Championship was held in Irvine, California, in August 2019. USA defeated Japan 4-3 in eight innings, and claimed its third consecutive world title in this category.